Generation Games Case Study

St Albans Centre in Holmewood is home to a weekly chair based kurling session. It was set up nearly two years ago through our Generation Games initiative which helps to bring older people together to become more active.

Lead by volunteer Rose Hardwick, they originally ran the session with equipment borrowed from Generation Games. But keen to make the group independent and sustainable, our Generation Games Officer Hayley applied for funding from Holmewood’s local Councillor Julie Hill to buy them their own kit.

On a visit to the session, the centre was buzzing with chatter and laughter as the group enjoyed tea and cakes before kicking off a few games of kurling.

Two of the participants explain what they get out of it:

Anne Smith, 74

Anne has played a large part in the church adjoining the centre, helping to prepare food for a number of years. She’d never tried kurling but after a number of strokes she was keen to get out of the house and give it a go.

Anne said: “I wanted to get involved in this because being in the house gives me too much time to think about things. Because I’ve suffered from strokes I don’t like being out alone so this is perfect. I also have borderline diabetes so I was keen to do an easy activity which would help stop that from developing.

“I really enjoy doing the competitions we take part in, last time I won a £10 voucher. It’s so friendly, I see people from the session out and about all the time and we all speak to each other.”

Julie Purcell, 66

Julie got involved with kurling after finding out about it through her lunch club. Having broken her spine there wasn’t a lot of activities she could take part in but chair based kurling offered the perfect opportunity to get a bit more active.

Julie said: “The kurling is very social. Everyone is in a similar position and we laugh so much. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and there’s no nasty side to the competition.

“I started here when I lived in North Wingfield, and even though I’ve now moved to Danesmoor I still come here because I’ve got such a great group of friends.”

Hear Julie talking about why she loves kurling in the video below:

If you'd like to find out more about Generation Games you can read more here or contact our Generation Games Officer Hayley Bramley on hayley@communitysportstrust.co.uk